Hot Issue and Related Poll
Advice for pre-IPO companies: Run your business as if you were already public. What does that mean? This means that while developing products, increasing revenue and cutting costs remain top priorities, the underlying business and IT processes, policies and internal controls demand similar attention.
This week’s poll question asks: "Regardless of whether your organization is private or public, does senior management view business and IT process, policies and internal controls as equal in importance to developing products, increasing revenue and cutting costs?"
Previous Poll Results
See the results from last week's poll, "Does your organization currently use continuous monitoring as part of the internal audit process?"
Auerbach Article
One problem with the implementation of SOX is that it tends to set a standard for compliance that may be inadequate. Meeting SOX standards does not imply that a firm or an IT department has the processes in place required to manage its business. Nor does it mean that an optimal level of control exists anymore than having a pulse signifies good health. SOX compliance is the minimum standard, not an optimum standard. Regardless of your firm’s current maturity level, you will need to demonstrate SOX compliance efficiently and honestly. This article describes the typical steps required to pass section 404.
Questions & Answers
This section of Protiviti's Spreadsheet Risk Management: Frequently Asked Questions addresses common questions assessing spreadsheet controls and current risk exposure. Topics covered include: How do we start to identify the potentially critical spreadsheets? Which parts of the organization can have the greatest dependency on critical spreadsheets? And, how can we ensure that we identify all potentially critical spreadsheets?
This section of Protiviti's Guide to The Sarbanes-Oxley Act addresses common questions focused on the role of the independent public accountant. Topics covered are: When and how should the independent public accountant be involved during management’s annual assessment process? Can the independent public accountant perform any testing on behalf of the audit client? And, can the external auditor use the work of the internal audit function and others for purposes of performing an audit of internal control over financial reporting?
Guide
Work papers are documents produced during an audit engagement. These papers are formally referred to as audit documentation or sometimes as the audit file. The documents serve as a guide to organizing manual audit work papers.
Questionnaire
As companies focus on managing their operations in a difficult economic environment, they seek to become leaner and more focused, efficient and effective. This document focuses on questions for board members and management to consider when managing risks related to outsourcing or offshoring business activities.
Country Specific Content
KnowledgeLeader is pleased to announce that a recent flash report has been published on KnowledgeLeader in Chinese: "SEC Provides Transition Guidance For Its New Proxy Disclosure Enhancements" The content can be located by clicking on "Topics" --> "China."
University Center Addition
The objective of this course is to develop an appreciation for how Accounting Information Systems can be used to maximize the success of an organization. The course focuses on the traditional categories of business transactions and how those transactions are documented, stored, and reported or used by both internal and external users. In addition, the course covers documentation techniques and internal control procedures commonly found in Accounting Information Systems.
Protiviti Podcast
Joe Tarantino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Protiviti, discusses some of the top challenges facing businesses in 2010.
Featured Event
This new requirement applies to large U.S. companies with U.K. operations or U.K. branches of foreign companies that in the preceding financial year had sales of more than £200 million (approx. $325 million) or gross assets of more than £2 billion (approx. $3.25 billion). During this webinar experts from Protiviti will share information and discuss steps your business can take to respond to the SAO UK tax legislation. Attendees will learn the important changes in UK tax legislation effective 2010 which now require a “tax control and appropriate arrangements” certification from a designated company executive.
Participation Request
You are invited to take this survey, which focuses on gaining insight into the current state of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for all types of organizations, the related costs, and how to achieve a desired state of verifiable compliance, value add and sustainability. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. No login ID or password is required to access the survey.
Announcement
ExamMatrix specializes in computer-based professional certification examination preparation software for the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®), and more. The review software enables individuals to study anytime, anywhere by leveraging the ExamMatrix review software to study on the go. ExamMatrix stands behind the certification review software and reference books by offering a pass-or-refund guarantee. KnowledgeLeader members are eligible to receive a 25% discount off the standard review software price and are encouraged to sign up for a free online webinar tutorial of ExamMatrix™ Review Software.
Featured Links
With international financial reporting standards set to become the new accounting regime in Canada on January 1, 2011, most public companies there are well along in the conversion process. Their experience may prove useful to U.S. companies, if and when the latter are required to switch to IFRS. One lesson: While the finance function naturally should drive the conversion project, the high-level participation of information-technology leaders is essential, especially in complex organizations. Source: CFO.com
It's easy to confuse the disciplines of project manager and product manager. Simply put, the development of the product or service falls to the project manager, while the market success of software and system products depends on the skills and competence of the product manager. This article provides an overview of software product management, the role of a product manager, and describes concrete practices that can boost an organization's software product management, and the success rate of products in terms of predictability, quality, and efficiency. Source: executivebrief.com
Featured KLplus Course
Sections 302 and 906 of SOX lay a foundation for restoring investor confidence in the integrity of public reporting. Building on that foundation, Section 404 requires management to file an internal control report with the annual report on Form 10-K. This course focuses on the SEC’s rules for Section 404. The completed course is worth 1 CPE credit and by the end of the course, the learner will be able to:
- Describe Section 404 requirements
- Determine by when their company must comply
- Define internal control over financial reporting
- Identify who should be involved in complying with Section 404
- Describe what has to be done to comply
To view the full list of CPE courses available on KnowledgeLeader, please visit the KLplus page, or to request an upgrade to KLplus, visit the My Account page.
Featured Favorite
This policy outlines the relationship between a company and its external auditors. This document also discusses the importance of providing external auditors adequate information and other related company responsibilities. This policy has been tagged as a Favorite by your fellow subscribers.
CCH Tax and Accounting - Accounting Research Manager Updates
- FASB Codification -- FASB Publishes Technical Corrections to Various Topics
- New Accounting Standards -- Checklist Updated
- Revenue Recognition -- FASB Discusses Revenue Recognition and Other Matters
- Comprehensive Income -- FASB Discusses Comprehensive Income and Other Matters
- Climate Disclosures -- SEC Publishes Interpretive Guidance on Disclosure Related to Climate Change
- AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments -- Newsletter Issued
- GASB Standards -- GASB Proposes to Enhance the Usefulness of its Codification to Constituents
From the Archive
This document details an internal audit plan for a specific period and the related projects that are planned to be delivered to the organization. Further details on the scope of these projects are provided in relation to planned internal audit activities. This was one of the top 25 most viewed pages in 2009.
Top 5 Pages on KnowledgeLeader
The following links will take you to the five most popular pages from the week of January 25, 2010.